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Byblos
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
11 reviews for Byblos
I had heard Byblos and Beirut are the 2 big Lebanese restaurants to try in Toledo. So on our way home from Maumee, we decided to swing by Byblos and pick up some take-out for dinner.
Skipping past the Italian offerings on the menu, we settled on ordering the cold grape leaves, fattoush, and the chopped sirloin. The grape leaves were good thought the overall texture was a little... tougher than what I've had in previous experiences. But tasty nonetheless. The fattoush was good! It was, again, prepared differently than the fattoush I had had elsewhere, but it was different in a good way! I loved that the cucumbers and tomatoes and onions were chopped in large pieces and not, more or less, diced. And I really like the mixture of herbs that it was coated in. The dressing brought it all together and I was so glad I ordered this! My husbands chopped sirloin was basically a gigantic hamburger... we thought it was going to be cubed beef for some reason, so it was a little surprising to open the box and find a gigantic patty. But it was well cooked and served with rice (that was on the buttery side) and three (yes, THREE) bundles of pitas! (BTW... That dinner was 2 nights ago, and we still have 2 bundles in the fridge!)
Byblos was good, but my stomach still belongs to Grape Leaf Diner (sorry Byblos fans!). Will have to check out Beirut next...
I used to eat here a lot with friends. Dependable Lebanese food. Reasonable prices.
I have no opinion about the non-Lebanese food here (ie spaghetti) except I never had a reason to order non-Lebanese food at a Lebanese restaurant.
Only minus is that menu was a little on the thin side... not too much besides the basics.
Seeing all the Yelp love (minus two reviewers), I was a tad disappointed with Byblos. I came in for lunch with the other two OSU Musketeers only to be taken completely off guard by the layout of the restaurant. Apparently one would have to climb a narrow stairwell to get to the dining area on the second floor. There was the option of an elevator, but those who choose to take the elevator to go up one floor (with the exception of physically handicapped folks) are complete idiots.
The actual dining area was separated into at least two large sections, with--I believe--an additional small party room in the back. The section we were seated in was nearly full, which bode well, but having 1.5 server taking care of every table did not. (The other .5 was for the server who seemed to enjoy pulling disappearing acts oh-so-frequently, while the other one was running the show.)
But onto the important stuff: the food. Complimentary pitas, which came with butter packets, looked like they came straight from the grocery aisles. The hummus itself was okay, and dipping the pitas in hummus could not erase the fact that they could be a bit more moist. Despite my ordering the shish kabob well-done and all that jazz, it was leaning more towards the medium side when it arrived. The rice could use a bit more seasoning, but I did enjoy the steak fries very much. Just be prepared for a Heinz ketchup and A1 sauce presentation. My friends ordered the Byblos Best (filet tips over hummus) and the special of the day, which consisted of lamb in tomato sauce.
Byblos wasn't bad, per say, but I can definitely say I've had better experiences elsewhere. That's also not to say that I won't be checking out Beirut, the sister restaurant, as the menus differ somewhat.
If you don't like Byblos then you must have ordered the wrong thing. It's like someone complaining about their cheeseburger that they ordered in a Mexican restaurant! Wrong on so many levels...
I have daily hankerings for their hummus and fetoosh. I can't find another hummus like this...and I've tried! So creamy, so good. Mmmm. And their falafel! Ahhhhh. Ok, it's the best Lebanese food in Toledo--and I've been going there since I was like 5 years old, so I know what I'm yapping about.
It's a MUST when I go home to see my parents.
I moved away from Toledo six years ago and this restaurant is the thing I miss most. I'm actually serious. I have DREAMS about the food here. There is not a trip back to Frog Town that doesn't lead to Byblo's at some point. Tonight was that night and with every bite my mouth just danced. To use mouthgasmic in two reviews in a row seems to be overkill, but it's true.
I almost always get the shish tawook as my entree. The chicken, grilled in some amazing marinade sits upon a bed of rice pilaf I have yet to find an equal to (and believe me, I've tried). We started off with some fatoosh, a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and toasted pita that has the most insanely delicious flavor. The fact that it will get me to eat onions and tomatoes should speak volumes about the flavor.
The chairs are big and comfortable, the dining room softly lit, and all you need to think about is whether or not you have enough room for baklava.
SOOOOOOO GOOD!
The food, atmosphere, and wine selection is excellent.
It's an incredibly enjoyable place to eat, so long as you're not a total snob about restaurants.
I can not understand why this restront was packed. Who would go there twice???? First of all it is not traditional Lebanese food, it is a hodge podge of poorly made Lebanese, American and Italian food. The service was terrible, the waitress was very slow and could not answer simple questions about the menu. Bar drinks are way over priced and made incorrectly like some 80 year old man was working behind the bar. My favorite part was how this authentic restaurant serves sliced up pita bread and cold hard foil packet of butter on the table when you arrive. Nothing like trying to spread hard butter on a quarter of a pita bread. I ordered a falafel sandwich which the falafel was small greasy and over cooked. My wife and I also split a pizza because vegetarian options were thin on the menu. It was OK, but way over price and super small for a large pizza.
I am a frequent customer to the Middle East Market also on Reynolds (further up north) and you can really tell that Byblos orders a lot of there stuff from this deli the pita bread and hummus were exactly the same. So in the future save your self a large bull and poor service and try Middle East Market or one of the many Arabic delis Toledo has to offer.
Byblos is the king of Hummus of and Grape Leaves (warm) in the midwest, hands down. Nuff said.
The food was horrible, I had high hopes. Oh well....
Officially I am an agnostic, but when I dip a section of an arayes halabi sandwich into some hummus during a lunch at Byblos and then begin wolfing it down, I begin to doubt my agnosticity, because man, somebody divine made this food up. Byblos is Toledo's finest Lebanese restaurant, which is saying something in a town with many people of Lebanese extraction, nearly as many Lebanese restaurants, and a full-blown-minarets-and-all mosque. The Conventional Wisdom is that Beirut, the cross-town sister/rival restaurant, is Toledo's best, but I never liked it much--too hububby, too many regulars who have been coming there for 80 years for a newby like me to feel at home. Come to Byblos in all its weird, windowless above-an-office-building grandeur for a shish tawook that will tease your tongue, a fatoosh that will tickle your palate, and hummus that will make you feel at one with the chickpea of life.
